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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24725818">Counterfactuals</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LookingForDroids/pseuds/LookingForDroids'>LookingForDroids</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Microfiction and Drabbles [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hiveswap</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>5 Things, All the angst. ALL of it., Alternate Timelines, Angst, Character Death, F/F, Mini-Fiction</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:01:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>306</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24725818</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LookingForDroids/pseuds/LookingForDroids</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Glimpses of five endings that never were, and one possible future. </p>
<p>(Written for a challenge to fit a classic 5 Things fic into 300 words.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Folykl Darane &amp; Kuprum Maxlol, Folykl Darane/Marsti Houtek</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Microfiction and Drabbles [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1922818</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Counterfactuals</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>1. </i>
</p>
<p>Alone, she lays her head on a plastic bag – to rest, she tells herself, but every second is a slow winding down, an equalization of energy. There’s no cure for this; the whole universe will get there in the end. She’s just one step ahead of the curve, that’s all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <i>2.</i>
</p>
<p>The drones find her at midday, and the only warning is the crack of plywood planks overhead and a beam of searing sun across her face.</p>
<p>Kuprum fries the first, but more are closing in, behind, above. They’re not there for him. She knows he isn’t going to leave her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <i>3. </i>
</p>
<p>It hurts to move. She has to move.</p>
<p>The cerulean is too busy making Kuprum lift a shard of glass to his own throat to notice her. She grabs the fucker’s ankle, drains him fast and hard.</p>
<p>There’s still the indigo.</p>
<p>Kuprum is free now, furious, but not fast enough.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <i>4.</i>
</p>
<p>Getting on board is tough, but hiding is easy. She just needs to think like she’s nothing, and she is. As for sabotage, Okimaw gets the shit she needs – no charge, no need to ask why.</p>
<p>Explosions kill the lucky ones. The rest? Death by vacuum is a fucking bitch. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <i>5.</i>
</p>
<p>The sky is full of falling stars.</p>
<p>Marsti tells her this – grabs her arm, talks about portals opening and light beyond, says she doesn’t want a space rock to be what kills her.</p>
<p>“You think there’s a choice?”</p>
<p>“There’s always a choice,” Marsti says, and kisses her, and doesn’t stop.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <i>+1.</i>
</p>
<p>Marsti insists they’re still not safe, but no one’s safe, so whatever. She pokes Kuprum in his nest of wires.</p>
<p>“Hey,” she says. “Do a barrel roll.”</p>
<p>He laughs and tells her to suck it. There’s no strain in his voice, like there was when they first got him free.</p>
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